How do you slay the giant?

[morimech]

In a long term save. Man Utd. is the best club in the world. They have won the EPL 4 years running and are going to win it again unless I can stop them. Won the Champions League more times than not in my save. My record against them is 2-4-14 with a -40 GD. I think the positive results came about when I was newly promoted and surprised a few teams. My two results the current season have been 1-3 and 0-3. I now have to face them in the League Cup final.

I notice my team just does not perform against them. Cannot complete a simple pass, lose every challenge, pick up yellow cards and injuries. I have tried every type of mentality and team talk that I can think of and nothing comes close to working. Tactics seems to have no affect on the outcome. I normally play a control, short passing, fluid game but that obviously does not work. I have also tried counter, long ball play but that does not work either. Don't even ask what happened when I tried a defensive, rigid tactic. Does anyone have some advice?

 

[miitchh]

Focus more on your players mentality if no tactical wariant has worked for you.

 

[morimech]

So I played the Cup final, and I won! But it almost ended up as an epic rant in the Frustrations thread with statements that I will never play this f'n game again. This is how it went down.

Looking at the scout report on Man Utd. I noticed several of the players that have giving me fits in the past are very tired, jaded, and in need of a rest. My team happens to have an extra day of rest on them and I evidently rotate much more frequently. I play my main tactic 4-1-2-2-1 which is control, very fluid, pressing, short passing. My forwards and back four are my strongest players at their positions but my midfielders are my third and fourth choices. My pre match team talk is Passionate "I know we are underdogs, but the fans...". Do not get much of a reaction from the team.

Man Utd. has decided to rest most of their tired players putting out a squad I match up well with. Their star playmaker CM is at 85% but still starting. So I put hard tackling on him and some other tired players. The match starts and I can immediately tell my team is playing better. I am up 2-0 at the 60 minute mark and think I have a chance and that is when things change for the worse. My AMR who has two superb assists gets knocked out with an injury and has to be substituted. Man Utd. scores to make it 2-1. My AMR sub gets injured almost immediately but is able to continue play. One of my midfielders gets a straight red and Man Utd. immediately equalizes 2-2. I expect the game winner for them at any moment. But I hang on till extra time. I am down a man but I have the more fit squad.

After I went a man down I removed my lone striker and sub in a midfielder and go normal/fluid/normal passing. Man Utd. obviously are going to put me a lot of pressure on me and it is just a matter of time before I concede and lose the Cup. But something amazing happened. I hit them with a counter and go ahead 3-2. I know this is not the end of the scoring. I expect an equalizer and a match winner. They get a red card. I have a chance! Go counter. They have to keep up the pressure and I hit with a counter again 4-2. They have nothing to lose now and I hit them yet again 5-3. First time I did not lose to them in over 5 seasons. BTW their CM that started the match at 85% and I targeted for hard tackling, played the entire 120 minutes and still had their best player performance. Could not knock him out of the game but I notice they never suffer match day injuries.

 

[markyplatt]

USE THIS MAGIC

View attachment 465222

 

[morimech]

I ended up playing Man Utd. for a fourth time in the FA Cup semi final. My teamed showed up again and won even though Utd fielded a much stronger squad. My team can beat them in Cup matches but will not perform at all against them during league play. Can definitely see FM shenanigans at work just from the Jekyll and Hyde performances of my players.

I was sitting in 2nd on the league table but after I won the Capital One Cup, my team just spiraled downward. I am now struggling to keep hold of 5th. Went from 5 points back from the top, to 20 back.